Cannabis bills clear another round of legislative committees

Three medical marijuana bills circulating in the state Legislature are now a step closer to a floor vote after clearing another round of committee hearings this week.

Two of the bills were authored by North Coast legislators — Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) and Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) — and are both set to go to appropriations committees in August.

McGuire’s Medical Marijuana Public Safety and Environmental Protection Act, or Senate Bill 643, is more comprehensive in its regulations as it addresses licensing and regulating dispensaries, cultivation sites, transportation and manufacturing of medical marijuana and medical marijuana products.

Wood’s Assembly Bill 243, known as the Marijuana Watershed Protection Act, focuses more on environmental regulations of cultivation. The bill also would create a statewide excise tax and plant tagging program that would fund enforcement of the bill as well as environmental programs to address environmental damage caused by illegal marijuana grows.

After clearing the Senate floor in June and the Assembly Committee on Business and Professions last week, SB 643 was again given approval by the Assembly Committee on Health in an 11-2 vote on Tuesday.

McGuire has repeatedly stated the need for regulation of the medical marijuana industry since being elected to office last year.

“The impacts are horrendous and the drought has had an exacerbating effect, especially on the North Coast,” he said in a statement. “Entire rivers are running dry as marijuana grows expand and the fourth year of this historic drought sets in.”

After using a potted marijuana plant to make clear his bill’s regulatory target, AB 243 cleared the Senate Committee on Governance and Finance last week in a 5-0 vote. The Senate Committee on Environmental Quality saw fit to give the bill another 5-0 approving vote on Wednesday.

“The progress we have made is very encouraging and I am grateful for all the support we have gathered so far,” Wood said in a statement. “We now have an opportunity to work out the final wrinkles over summer recess and I think we will have a very strong bill in the final weeks of the legislative session.”

Meanwhile, a competing medical marijuana bill AB 266 authored by Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, was approved by the Senate Committee on Health on Thursday in a 8-1 vote. The bill will head to the Senate Committee on Appropriations in August after the legislative recess.